Decided to finally take the plunge and buy a good quality call that I can have for a long time. Seems like the short barrel is a very solid call. Hunting in Wisconsin I hunt enough small water that a bocote or cocobola appeals to me but will it last? Definitely not looking to replace this call couple years after purchase. Or am I better off just going safe with an acrylic to last a lifetime and will it be able to quiet down enough to finish ducks in those potholes I often hunt? If you had to choose one start to finish call to last for years would it be acrylic or wood?

I know for alot of you guys you probably have both, but for now this is a big step. I'm sure once I see the difference the addiction will set in. Thanks in advance!

Last edited by snosleder080 on Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have an older hedge short barrel and have hunted with in for the past 4 years and it's still in great shape minus some wear on the band. You can't go wrong with either and I think the cocobola would definitely hold up

Cocobolo SBs sound superb. If I had to choose between cocobolo and an acylic SB for hunting Id go with the coco and open up the exhaust bore just a tad.

No contest ring. No gimmicks. No compromising. It’s just pure, raw, balls-to-the-wall, don’t tell your mother, most powerful, non-nuclear duck calling machine on the planet.This call may not be for everyone. But if you can drive it, Game over......

I have an Acrylic Short Barrel. My favorite call in the field. It is an older short barrel. they have changed a little. I also have a wood micro hen. The micro hen is fun to use. it sounds great and is surpassingly loud. It is plenty good on the low "deeper" end. I would still have to recommend the short barrel over the micro hen. The short barrel has better tonal and volume range.

Think about this, with the right control, you can make a loud call soft but you can't make a soft call loud. Stick with a good all around call and rely on your skills to quieten it when need be. Get the acrylic call. Wood will distort and you have to take care with it. Some get lucky but I have a box full of wood calls that changed tone over time and repeated exposure to cold. Acrylic won't do that. Save your money a little longer. You've made it this far.

I'm a huge Microhen fan, but if looking for an only call, I'd want something capable of more volume. I recently gave away a super sweet hedge SB from a period when they were bored open enough to better fill that "only call" bill, but the newer ones I've heard won't get loud enough to suit me, either. So if I were to get a current SB, I'd want acrylic to squeeze every tiny bit of volume out of it. But that hedge SB was the "duckiest" I've heard.

Rick Hall wrote:I'm a huge Microhen fan, but if looking for an only call, I'd want something capable of more volume. I recently gave away a super sweet hedge SB from a period when they were bored open enough to better fill that "only call" bill, but the newer ones I've heard won't get loud enough to suit me, either. So if I were to get a current SB, I'd want acrylic to squeeze every tiny bit of volume out of it. But that hedge SB was the "duckiest" I've heard.

I've been wondering about this Rick. It does seem like the newer SBs don't have quite the volume like the old ones did. What did they change/when did they change them?

I was in the same situation as you a few months ago. Just went ahead and bought the acrylic so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

And does it get down low enough for your liking?

I have never blown a cocobolo SB so I can't offer a side by side comparison, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that the acrylic will get down as low as I will EVER need it to go. It's definitely my go-to call.

Hugatree wrote:Think about this, with the right control, you can make a loud call soft but you can't make a soft call loud. Stick with a good all around call and rely on your skills to quieten it when need be. Get the acrylic call. Wood will distort and you have to take care with it. Some get lucky but I have a box full of wood calls that changed tone over time and repeated exposure to cold. Acrylic won't do that. Save your money a little longer. You've made it this far.

And a huge x2 on everything said above. With just a little practice you can make that SB whisper.

Rick Hall wrote:I'm a huge Microhen fan, but if looking for an only call, I'd want something capable of more volume. I recently gave away a super sweet hedge SB from a period when they were bored open enough to better fill that "only call" bill, but the newer ones I've heard won't get loud enough to suit me, either. So if I were to get a current SB, I'd want acrylic to squeeze every tiny bit of volume out of it. But that hedge SB was the "duckiest" I've heard.

I've been wondering about this Rick. It does seem like the newer SBs don't have quite the volume like the old ones did. What did they change/when did they change them?

Folks have said on these boards that the stickered ones had the most open bores, but my was an early engraved version that seemed every bit as loud as my older version, scroll insert, Daisy cutter, just less harsh. Again, on these boards, I've read that the bore change was to help differentiate the SB and DC - but that's only what I've seen on the Internet. Which is to say I don't know the first thing about it for fact.